The Oscars are the biggest awards ceremony on the planet, so why are they known as something else entirely?

The official name of course is the Academy Awards and it will be its 90th year in 2018.

So why do we call it the Oscars? The 13.5 inch tall award is officially called an Academy Award of Merit.

It is thought that the award, which weighs 8.5 pounds, was called an Oscar by Academy librarian Margaret Herrick who went on to be the executive director. She said that it resembled her Uncle Oscar.

Julianne Moore, winner of the award for best actress in a leading role for ?Still Alice", waits for her Oscar to be engraved at the Governors Ball after the Oscars on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2015, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) (Image: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

The Academy Awards website notes that it was widely known as the Oscars by 1934 because Hollywood columnist Sidney Skolsky used it when referring to Katharine Hepburn’s first Best Actress win in a story. Then it was officially adopted in 1939.

But there is a third link too. There were rumours that actress Bette Davis says she named it after her first husband, Harmon Oscar Nelson.

The Academy say the award itself remains true to its original design but the size of the base varied until 1945, when the current standard was adopted.